The new Pirate Reef water attraction opened over Memorial Day weekend at the Carlsbad kiddie park with a pair of life-size Lego pirate ships flanking the splash zone of the classic shoot-the-chutes ride.

For its relatively modest size, the 25-foot-tall attraction built by Florida-based Hopkins Amusement Rides generates a surprisingly enormous splash.

The 15-foot-tall fan-shaped tidal wave delivers a double whammy, with the initial deluge sweeping over the boat like a tsunami only to be followed by a trio of ricocheting blasts that careen off the twin pirate ships and the overhead bridge connecting them onto the boat passengers below.

When I rode Pirate Reef, it felt as if every last drop of the 155,000 gallons of water in the lagoon rose in unison and crashed down upon our collective heads. I couldn't get wetter if I dove into a swimming pool in a rainstorm.

No place is safe. Front row, back row, it doesn't matter. You can't hide. Every last inch of you will get wet. Guaranteed. I've never been on a wetter ride in my life.

I wore one of the $6 plastic ponchos that Legoland sells, but it didn't help much. I clenched up the hood as tight as possible and water still managed to flow down the neck hole, soaking the front and back of my shirt.

Then came the water cannons fired from the decks of the pirate ships, followed by a series of innocent-looking Lego frogs that squirted a continuous fire hose-flow of arching water over the boat. By the time we returned to the dock, it felt as if we'd driven a convertible with the top down through a torrential downpour.

The brilliance of Pirate Reef is that the ride can be accessed from both the Legoland theme park and the separate-admission water park, meaning you can and should ride Pirate Reef in a bathing suit. I don't know about you, but I don't like walking around a theme park soaked to the skin — clothes clinging, shoes squishing, shoulders shivering. It takes all the fun out of the day.

For the theme park visitors who do get soaked, Legoland has stationed $5 body dryers right near the Pirate Reef exit. The walk-in dryers leave you 90% dry and may well be the greatest theme park invention of the past decade.

Debuting on May 24, the Pirate Reef shoot-the-chutes water ride at Legoland California will take riders down a 25-foot drop that generates a tidal wave splash designed to soak bystanders watching from a pedestrian bridge.

Legoland California has updated the Star Wars Miniland area of the Carlsbad theme park with new characters, weapons and spacecraft rendered in 1:20 scale using Lego bricks. A new Star Wars Gallery will include 3-foot-tall Lego models of a dozen characters from the epic film saga.

As part of a multiattraction expansion this spring, Legoland California plans to update the Star Wars Miniland area that debuted last summer, add a pirate-themed shoot-the-chutes water ride and install a crab exhibit at the adjacent SeaLife Aquarium.

Themed to look like a ski mobile, the Polar X-Plorer vertical freefall drop coaster will serve as the centerpiece of a new $13 million Polar Land themed area set to debut in May 2012 at Denmark's Legoland Billund.